A escrita da História no alvorecer do milênio: a obra de Richer de Saint-Remi

Abstract

This paper proposes an analysis of the work Four Books of Histories, written by Richer, a benedictine monk attached to the abbey of Saint Remi, in the final decade of the 10th century. The Four Books are a fundamental document for understanding the history of the Frankish Kingdom of the West, during the reign of the last monarchs of the carolingian dynasty and the first of the capetingian dynasty. In addition to accessing libraries and consulting documents, Richer closely followed the disputes that marked the political landscape of Francia in the run-up to the advent of the year one thousand. The monk from Saint Remi's work is the only historical account of the dynastic succession that brought Hugh Capet to power, written at the time the events were taking place. Some medievalists attribute to Richer an elusive commitment to the accuracy of the information contained in his work, as well as a narrative proposal marked by the creation of facts relating to the episodes in the history of the franks that he set out to describe. Our aim is not to refute this analysis. We intend to show that, despite these narrative traits, the Four Books of Histories present a wealth of information about 10th century Francia. We believe that the passages created by Richer and the additions he made to certain events are metaphors that provide indispensable data for understanding the power relations, the disputes, the different behaviors and action strategies of the groups that fought for power on the political chessboard that marked frankish society at the dawn of the first millennium.